How bad are your misses?
 

I have seen some stuff about accuracy with different gear and some logic used to justify equipment choices so it got me wondering how bad people out there are actually missing by.

It is said commonly in reference to the WB that a bad follow through will end up in a worse shot due to the rest being in contact with the arrow longer..........what I wonder is how bad of a miss are you blaming this on?? Are we talking an inch or two or sticking one in the ham of your McKenzie at 20 yards??

Another I hear a lot is torque.........how bad are the misses that are being blamed on grip torque??.......are you guys really missing by a foot or two and if so how badly are you choking and twisting that grip to see this??

It just makes me wonder because I honestly don't know what I would have to do to miss by THAT much........(from a reasonable yardage) I would honestly have to work harder to miss by a TON then I do to shoot a nice shot. I just don't have dramatic misses when I shoot and can't phathom what other guys are doing if every 3rd or 4th arrow is missing by a foot.

Let me clarify that I don't even consider myself a great shot........I am not a bad shot by any means but I'm not winning any contests that's for sure. During shooting a few times when I have been bored though I would TRY bad habits to see what they did........the only way I could get torque to pull me out of the vitals was so extreme that no one would ever do and I couldn't even get grip pressure to mess me up (I can put a death squeeze on the riser and still be more then lethal).

Maybe people are referring to a couple inch "miss" when they blame some of the above..........just wondering.

Again, I am talking about reasonable yardage shots.........I just can't imagine how bad your habits have to be to be missing by a couple feet at these ranges.

Are we blaming other things because we don't want to admit we yipped the snot out of that shot or are you guys really seeing horrible misses at the slightest break from PERFECT form and execution??

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

From 20 yds....my misses are evident.



From 30 and 40 yds....I consider anything outside the 10 ring on a 3D animal a "miss".

It gets larger ("acceptable") "miss" at longer yardages, naturally.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

If your buck is still alive the next day, That's a big miss.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

I have tested this while practicing and found that canting the bow made me shoot several inches off either side. Up and down was still fine. I think as far as hunting goes you would still be lethal as long as you aimed in the right spot to begin with. If you aimed too far back and canted the bow, then your wounding odds increase of course. just what i have seen. If you are missing more than 3-4" it prolly has nothing to do with canting the bow a little. JMO.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

about the only time i miss by about one or two feet is if i (and this is very rare) flinch i guess you call it :Djerk about the time i release, like i said it has hapened, but not very often at all. my son had picked up the habit of punching the trigger very bad, and was occasionally throwing a bad shot,i like to never broke him of that, he good to go now.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

The misses i have made were all clean misses!

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

I only shoot at 20 thru 40 yrds so a miss to me would be outside the 10 ring or kill zone witch is a big rareity,but 2 yrs ago I hit a Elk in the chest..3-D shoot....when all said and done it was a 57yrd shot and I did it with my 40yrd pin.I guess if I had a 50yrd pin and practiced that far I wouldnt of missed at all......
Iam adding my 50yrd pin back on now due to the fact Iam going mule hunting this fall and should practice,practice,practice my 50yrd shots........
I cant remember the last time in 20+ yrs that ive blamed my equipment......Not knowing your limitations or Bows capabilty is the number one reason for poor shooting......not discludeing proper form and haveing a well tuned bow...

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

I blame my misses on torqueing the grip which can greatly effect fixed bladed heads IMO... I practiced every scenario and was tuned perfectly with fixed heads and went 0 for 3 all clean misses in 06...went back home practiced & practiced with all my clothes on from a treestand dead on...Only thing I can blame it on is me torqueing the bow in the heat of the moment....Thats the number one reason I tune and practice with fixed heads and hunt with Mechs...I went 4 for 4 this year...
I dont know what you consider a miss but I missed the animals my maybe an inch..but they were way off their mark...

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

4 feet was by far the worst miss that I have ever had in the field. A two blade steelforce broadhead on carbon express shaft that wobbled ever so slightly. I learned the hard way the importance of a well tuned arrow. That arrow planed off course immediately. I think the buck actually stopped long enough to laugh before he waved the white flag. For me any wobble is to much and I have also switched to a low profile head (Tricks).

My biggest miss indoors was at the range trying out my first mechanical release. I was the proud owner of an arrow stuck in the ceiling half way down range. I hit the trigger while drawing back. The only comfort was the fact that the hole left by my arrow was not the first in the ceiling.

Tom

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

I agree with the Canting the bow statement. Exspecially on side hill shots. I'll never shoot without a level bubble in the site picture again. It really makes a difference.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

if i miss an animal when it happens it is usaully by a few inches or less like this year i missed a huge 9-point wit split brow tines at 10yrds by about an inch literally an inch:(:(

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

Just wondering.....

You guys who say you had clean misses by a narrow margin.......

How far did you miss where you were aiming?

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

I shot a tree 16 yds up and 13 yds to left of a doe this year[&:]

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

I do not mean this to sound too critical, but if you missed him completely, you missed by a whole lot more than an inch. Don't feel bad though, I have missed animals by feet! No lie. I used to get target panic really bad. I would jerk the trigger and immediately look for the arrow instead of following through. That habit cost me god knows how many animals.

Oh well, we can't all be perfect.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

LOL I was wondering the same thing.

I missed 2 wolves by a few inches.....but way off my intended target. If I miss, its because I'm too jacked up and don't take the time to control myself. Sometimes this is my biggest weakness.

OOPS, I forgot to mention that I had controlled myself with the wolves, just overestimated the yardage.....bad.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

I seldom miss by more than 15-18" @ 30 yards, which I think is pretty darn good considering I use a whisker biscuit.:D

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

Most of my shots in the yard, even though “missing” my intended aim, would still kill a deer. That’s really all that matters to me. Every great once in a while I get a weird thing where I just jerk badly at the moment of release. Its very rare, but results in a very far off shot. 1-2 feet off.

Now my past misses at deer, were usually never by too much, and nearly always for a misjudged yardage. There were a few that ducked. And my most recent miss was a combination of factors that were my fault, but all added up to just missing a doe. Even though I probably hit where I was aiming. To explain, my close pin was sighted in for 22 yds. She was 15 yds, & at 15 I’m a little high. I also tend to aim a little higher than most when it comes to shooting deer from a tree(but I am working on it) She was also REALLY on edge for some reason. Wind was good, she never looked up. All those things combined with my error to aim low to compensate for both the closeness of the shot AND her temperament sailed my arrow JUST over her back.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

i would say my misses are do to my form, grip, and possibley not tunned bow....add it all together you can get some lost arrows, broken arrows, or sometimes great shots!!

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

MO.........how does Nugent get away with canting the bow so much?? Just because he shoots the same every time??

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

i missed my whole target and back stop once. keep in mind my backstop is 2 hay bales high, stacked on their sides(strings out not up) and 2 wide(side by side)

yep...that was a big miss. luckily the fence stopped my arrow :eek:

that miss was due to a terrible case of target panic...once in a blue moon i will get super jumpy and nervous for some odd reason...usually put the bow away and find something else to do...that day i decided to try to shoot through it and "cure it" didnt even hit my anchors and the arrow was loose...

most my shooting though, i can carry the ole 1" for every 10yds pretty easily though...anything outside that i consider a bad shot/miss. typically my shooting within 40yds is better than that "rule of thumb" though..

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

If I don't hit where I was aiming, I'm not happy.

The pictures I posted in my WB thread would not make me happy if I had shot them towards the middle of summer. I shoot a lot and expect my groups to reflect the amount of time I put into my shooting.

The 30 and 40 yard pictures were decent, but the 20 yard picture wouldn't cut it.

A miss is a miss is a miss in my book, whether you're off an inch or a foot it's a miss. I hold myself to higher standards than I would anyone else though...

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

My misses don't get much worse than the bottom arrow.;)I keed.:D

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

I've not had much experience with recurves/longbows but it seems to me that they always are canting the bow. Is this the norm?

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

where did you get my pic of my 90 yard group:D:D

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

Nuge learned on trad gear I believe and carried over his style to compounds.........it is definitely unusual.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

So if you hold the bow consistantly, canting isn't bad as long as you hold the same every time. I can see how it would be a little difficult to shoot trad bows and compounds and switch your form style.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

I only missed once this season, I was sitting on the side of a hill on my camp chair, over looking a feeding area. I wasn't paying any attention and a small buck(4 point) came walking in and laid down, well after like thiry minutes I got up and crept up on him to about 10 yards he stood up and I took a good shot, well i thought it was a good shot, my arrow went low and hit a small tree and stuck in it. I had to break it over to get my arrow back.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

Not really sure to be honest. I guess it is because you can still have good groups shooting with a slightly canted bow but they are going to push one way or the other. Plus I think he shoots instinctively. Dont quote me on that, but i never see him have a peep. He uses that red dot scope, which i have know idea how that works.[&:] Didnt see your last post, but i agree with him using his compound like a trad bow.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

As far as I know he shoots instinctive with his compounds, too. I saw his show last night and he was shooting his compound, canted, with no sight.

If you can do it the same,every time......that's all we can ask for.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

I don't think you can cant a bow AND use sights. I believe Nuge shoots bare bow when he cants it. If he is using a sighting system he's going to have to keep it vertical (unless you could invent some sort of angled bracket that mounts to the bow to allow for cant.)

I think that is also why his arow is nocked real high(compared to where he attaches his release) He sights right down the arrow. And with the flat shooting of todays compounds, I'm sure it is quite accurate without being as difficult as one would think.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

amen

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

Good points!

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

IME,I have seen 3-4 inch misses left and right on bad shots that are results of torque or similar form issues.Improper release,follow through etc.This is with field tips at 30 + yards,put a broadhead on an arrow and get some torque and no telling what might happen,especially in the wind.


Canting is fine as long as it is consistant but that is hard to repeat for most.

YOU CAN cant a bow and use sights,as long as thepins are level/perpendicular to the ground.Most sights today that have a level have the level set square with the pins so as long as the bubble reads right the pins will be fine,regardless of cant.

Things get trickier with the 3rd axis adjustment and hills with a cant but as long as the 3rd is adjusted square with the arrow,that will also be accurate.BUT,darn hard to repeat.SO,for that reason,I don't recomend it.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

Tfox,

So they make sights that tilt? Other wise wouldn't your pins look like this
o
o
o
o

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

Yes,they make sights that have a 2nd axis adjustment,meaning they will tilt.Most don't tilt much but they will tilt.

2nd axis adjustment is what sets your bubble.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

I have seen pure torque that causes a 6 to 8" miss to the side at 30 yards from point of aim. This generally happens in combination with a shot that makes you twist way around to one side or the other, mitigating the torque. I learned the hard way once awhile ago, everyone should practice shooting in stances other than ideal. Anything more than that size of miss I think there is more to it than just blaming in torque.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

Rob PA made a comment reguarding canting and the level bubble one time that really hit home with me. Unfortunantly I can only remember the jest of it and don't want to miss quote him. Rob if you read this maybe you can re-enlighten us. Obviously there is more weight on the side of the arrow when canting, so in theroy you are un-tuning what might be a tuned bow.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

most of my misses came from trying to see where my arrow hits, moving my head and jerking the bow not following through,or pulling back and my peep and pins are hard to find usually caused by a limb in the way and the anchor point is not right.
being honest not all mine were clean misses.now the misses are a lot further apart.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

If I'm understanding TFOX right,

The ONLY way a bow can be canted is if the bow is sighted in on a cant. Giving the example rybo gave us on pin configuration, the bow would actually have to be canted top limb left. That bow would have to be sighted in top limb left to be accurate out to different differences.

When a bow is sighted in level(plum)/perpendicular to earth and you then cant your bow, your shot will always be off the direction of the cant. Example, top limb right, you'll hit right beyond your top pin. It makes a difference the further your trying to shoot with the cant. People without levels have a tendancy to cant with a hill, cant down hill. Canting the top limb into a hill will usually bring the bow back plum to earth, check this with a level.

In the example rybo gave us with the pin configuration. Consider your top pin sighted in at 20 yards. Now with that same cant, raise your bow up for a 50 yard shot, you would physically have to move your bow to the right in order to bring your 50 yard pin over to the target. (assuming the bow was sighted in plum). Your 20 yard pin will now be to the right of the target, your shot will go right.

If the bow is sighted in with a cant, the top limb left, the cant will compensate for the misalignment in pins. This has to be consistant or it would never work, NOT recommended.

RE: How bad are your misses?
 

No, it's not recommended but can be done.

YES,if the pins are set level with the riser,then you will be way off with a cant.